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COULSDON AND PURLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Ladies and Gentleman,
I have the pleasure to present to you my Annual Report for
1951, this being my twentieth report as your Medical Officer of
Health.
It is similar in its arrangement to its predecessors, but the
section giving particulars of the other branches of the local health
and welfare services has been slightly expanded for the assistance
of Councillors, Officers and members of the public.
It will be noted that on the whole, and as judged by the vital
statistics, the health of the District continued to be reasonably
satisfactory throughout 1951.
For the first time since the War the Birth Rate, which has
been steadily decreasing, showed a slight increase. Although the
Death Rate increased correspondingly, it remained well below
the national rate, which also increased somewhat, while the increase
was mainly due to more deaths among adults over 65 years
of age.
It is very pleasing to report that, as in 1949, there were no
maternal deaths during the year.
It was not surprising that the Infant Mortality Rate increased
above the exceptionally low record rate in 1950, but it was still
much lower than the national rate, which was a record for the
Country as a whole.
The incidence of infectious disease continued at a fairly low
level, the only exceptions being measles, which produced the
highest number of notifications known in this District, scarlet
fever and whooping cough, which were slightly less common than
in 1950, and the pneumonias, which mainly resulted from the
slight wave of influenza in the early months of the year. With
the exception of the last mentioned, all these diseases were of a
milder type than formerly.
No case of poliomyelitis was notified, nor, for the fifth year
in succession was there a case of diphtheria, but it must be stressed
that this satisfactory record does not justify any relaxation in
diphtheria immunisation.
Although the incidence of non-pulmonary tuberculosis decreased
and the death rate from pulmonary tuberculosis dropped
markedly, as it has nationally, there was an increase in the number
of new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. In so far as this reflects
more efficient means of detecting this disease in its early stages,
or an appreciation of the advantages gained by early notification
and the commencement of the more hopeful modern forms of
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